20 Facts about Kurosaki Isshin
by Rapt0rix
Summary: I wrote this back in 2006, before we knew anything about Isshin's backstory. Now that it's being unveiled this spring of 2013, all my ideas are probably incorrect. Please keep this in mind as you read this fanfic. [Contains PostSoul Society Arc manga spoilers. None of these facts should be considered canon, they're just ideas of what Isshin's background story perhaps might be.]


**Title:** Bipolar Doctor By Day, Cocky Ex-Shinigami Captain By Night! Twenty Things About Kurosaki Isshin You Never Knew

**Character:** Kurosaki Isshin  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Disclaimer/Notes/Whatever:** I do not own Bleach. The Wonderful Kubo Tite is the blessed creator of Bleach and all the wonderful characters it includes. I'm just borrowing his characters for my own creative means, and trying to fill in some gaps about a particular character's background that Kubo hasn't officially given us. Please take note that this is just one fan's interpretation of how Isshin's past might be like, don't take it as canon!

**1.** Isshin entered the Shinigami Academy when he had the physical age of about 10-11. It took another 80 years before Isshin was finally promoted to the 10th division captain at the physical age of about 18.

**2.** A shinigami with a quirky personality only deserves a zanpakuto with an equally quirky personality. Byakko might make one think of a legendary tiger, but 'tiger' is the only thing that's true to Isshin's zanpakuto's name. Byakko is really more of a tiger in a tweed suit. He wears a bowler and a monocle, and speaks in a heavy English gentleman accent. He also drinks a lot of tea-Earl Grey always, with one lump of sugar. Isshin swears that Byakko has a teacup and saucer fused with his paw, as he has never seen the zanpakuto without one on his person.

**3.** During his years as a full-fledged Shinigami, Isshin often took trips to the living world to observe and enjoy the swiftly changing world of the living. The soul society had, and forever would perhaps, remain stuck in the appearance of the Edo period. The living world was much more exciting, the way it drastically changed every 10 years.

After his jaunts through the living world, he would always come home to the Soul Society with a large amount of books. He'd pick up the occasional 'best seller' or interesting comic book, but what he was truly interested in were the medical journals and textbooks. He was fascinated with medicine of the living world, and ended up self-teaching himself the basics.

**4.** Isshin met Masaki during the early 80's. He was taking a stroll through Karakura without a gigai one spring day, under the sakura trees. She was one of the rare humans who could him in his spirit form. She stopped him and asked if he was some sort of historical re-enactor, giggling at how authentic he looked. He sheepishly admitted that he wore those sort of clothes every day. Masaki was intrigued, and they conversed for several more hours under the trees.

Isshin warned her several times she'd look absurd to anyone walking by, because she'd look like a crazy, talking to someone who 'wasn't there'.

**5.** Isshin spent the next two years visiting Masaki regularly. She loved how goofy he was, and he could always make her laugh. He liked it that way, really, since he believed laughter made life all that more worth living.

Once, out of curiosity, Isshin tried smoking one of the western cigarettes that were so popular with the living people of the day. He ended up coughing and gagging, but Masaki smiled, and complimented him, telling him that when he took that first drag, he looked very 'cool' for a moment, something she had never told him before.

**6.** Isshin soon found his visits with Masaki were growing ever more troublesome with his duties as 10th Division captain. His new Vice-Captain, Rangiku, was having a hard enough trouble covering for him during his stays in the living world. He had already lost three Vice-Captains before her due to his eccentric tendencies. He was grateful at how responsible the beautiful woman had become in his absence.

**7.** Of the increasingly infrequent moments that Isshin was actually in the Soul Society, he had once walked in on Rangiku doing something not technically work-related. Apparently she had grown a little _too_ accustomed to Isshin's constant absence. On one such occasion, Isshin had found Rangiku and the 3rd Division Captain Ichimaru Gin in a rather intimate situation in his office. Isshin quickly shoved the door shut and went off to find other places to resume his duties for the day.

**8.** Isshin formally resigned from the Gotei 13 the day after he proposed to Masaki. He had promised her that he would end his double-life and devote himself to her. No questions were asked when he asked for a resignation and voluntary shinigami hermit-hood.

**9.** Once Isshin's life was over in the Soul Society, Urahara became a very important liaison. Urahara developed a special gigai just for him that helped mask 85 of his reiatsu, kept perfect synch without ever losing connection, and functioned 100 like an actual human body. At about the same time, Isshin changed his family name from 'Hanei' to 'Kurosaki' to keep a low profile.

**10.** The Kurosaki wedding was a rather quiet and small one, with mostly just Masaki's family attending. Masaki's family was rather surprised to learn that Isshin had not a single living relative to attend his wedding. Isshin was a tad depressed that he couldn't openly invite his companions from the Gotei 13 to attend his wedding, since they were the closest thing he had to family.

On the day of his wedding, Isshin was happily surprised that Rangiku had taken a page out of her old ex-Captain's book and stole away to the living world to attend Isshin's wedding, without any formal invitation. She wasn't in a gigai, so Masaki's family didn't even notice she was even there watching the wedding amongst them. He was pleasantly surprised also that Urahara had also invited himself to the wedding, still wearing that silly striped hat of his with his tuxedo.

**11.** Isshin realized that he and Masaki could not live on love alone. He would have to get a job that could support both of them, and perhaps any children they planned to have in the near future. For the next 5 years of his new life, Isshin worked odd jobs and put himself through medical school, excelling in grades and earning a degree in Pediatrics and was a certified common practitioner. With all the money the couple had saved up together, they started their own clinic, and soon became the best family-run clinic in Karakura. (Not like there were any other clinics to compete with.)

**12.** In medical school, Isshin could never really keep any good friends. They were always rather nervous of Isshin's brand of humor. Only one classmate ever could stand being around Isshin, and that was Ishida Ryuuken.

In his younger years, Ryuuken was a friendly and humble man, and had a decent sense of humor. Unlike the other study-holic students in their class, Isshin and Ryuuken would find interesting ways to spend their time when they were done studying. Once, Isshin convinced Ryuuken to go streaking across campus, explaining to him that being a medical school, their peers wouldn't be too shocked seeing nudity at all. Of course, that didn't hold true in the end, and the two had to spend a weekend naked in jail together afterwards.

The seemingly perfect friendship ended suddenly one night after finals and heavy celebratory drinking. Isshin lost control of his reiatsu for a moment, and Ryuuken sensed it in an instant. The deep-seated Quincy hatred towards Shinigami came bubbling to the surface, and after an ugly fight, the two became bitter enemies.

**13.** The real reason why Ichigo earned his name was not because he was born first or that he was a guardian angel, but because of the numerous flats of strawberries Isshin had to buy Masaki to calm her pregnancy cravings. Isshin swore on the 22nd flat he had purchased to date for his pregnant wife that this first born would be named "Ichigo", no matter if the baby was a boy or a girl.

**14.** Isshin's favorite Christmas with his family, he would say, was Ichigo's third. Isshin was very proud that he got that year recorded on tape. Ichigo was going through a toddler-age phase where he wasn't very fond of wearing his pants. The child was recently potty trained, and Isshin understood that this was a very natural and common phase… and encouraged it. As he filmed his little son opening presents happily, without any pants on, he laughed to himself. This would be _perfect_ material for embarrassing his son in about ten years or more whenever the boy would invite friends over-especially if those friends were of the female gender. Ichigo would never let him live this event down, and would make many failed attempts at destroying the tape.

**15.** After Isshin and Masaki started planning for a second child, he was floored that Masaki was having twins. Of course, this started him worrying that he'd have to buy twice as many strawberry flats for his pregnant wife as he had for Ichigo. Fortunately for him, she didn't have serious pregnancy cravings like she did for their first child.

**16.** Isshin was the one who insisted that Ichigo take up Karate. He had noticed how the young boy was constantly trying to protect his baby sisters from the common dangers of the home. He knew enrollment in martial arts would help his son protect his sisters from the things more threatening than spiders, seagulls, and stray dogs.

**17.** Isshin was devastated when Masaki died. Especially so because he knew she was killed by a hollow. The regret that he couldn't save her and Ichigo from the hollow with his zanpakuto was terrible. The thought that his wife's soul was a hollow, trapped in torment, wrenched at his heart every day. Isshin dreaded the day that he might encounter his wife's lost hollow soul and be forced to fight her. Isshin stayed in a state of mourning and depression for about a year after Masaki's death.

The one fact that his wife's soul was devoured in the act of protecting their son was the only thing keeping Isshin alive for the first few months of his mourning. He knew that if he died of a broken heart over Masaki, her sacrifice would mean nothing.

The thing that brought him out of his depression finally was the fact that he had to move on so his children could live a happy life. He knew he had to support them, and that Masaki would want their children to grow up surrounded in happiness, not sadness.

**18.** The moment Isshin noticed Ichigo was entering puberty, he vowed that he would never let his hormonal teenaged son walk all over him; so Isshin took charge. However, where a normal father would enforce rules stricter and give harsher punishments, Isshin decided he would rather keep his son on his toes with surprise sparring attacks. If Ichigo overslept, Isshin would swoop in on Ichigo with a diving kick. If his son cursed in front of him and the girls, Isshin would punch Ichigo in the mouth.

Isshin was rather proud that his efforts kept Ichigo from doing nothing worse than getting home for dinner a little late. (Which, he still punishes anyway.)

**19.** The day before the hollow attacked the Kurosaki home, Isshin noticed right off the bat when his son came home (late) for dinner that his spirit energy had spiked. He had been aware of his son's spirit pressure ever since he was a baby, but now the spike was a cause for concern.

Before, Isshin knew that Ichigo's present-but weak-spirit energy was no cause for concern to the local population of hollows. There were plenty of easier to devour pluses out there, and a living soul still in a human body was too big of a trifle to extract, except only for the stronger of the hollows-who preferred shinigami souls anyway.

But now, Ichigo's slowly increasing spirit energy was too much of a tempting treat to pass up.

Isshin's fears were confirmed the next night when the hollow attacked. Isshin had been wary all day, and had invited Urahara to keep a close watch over their house. When the hollow attacked, Isshin begged Urahara to aid him in the purification of the attacking hollow. Yet Urahara convinced him otherwise, explaining that there was a certified shinigami in their midst, and that this was an issue Ichigo had to deal with.

Isshin was definitely not happy with it, but he conceded. He observed the whole thing play out from the upstairs window, his heart wrenching as he watched, helplessly, while his children's lives were at risk.

**20.** When Grand Fisher returned to try and pick off the mod soul inhabiting his son's body, Isshin had no other choice but to return to his shinigami state for the first time in twenty years. Just as Isshin was preparing to remove his soul from his gigai body, Urahara arrived to give a helping hand. It took a few minutes for Isshin to recover from the abrupt removal of his spirit from his body, but he wasted no time to leap into action. Fortunately the enchanted charm he had made sure Ichigo would wear on his body at all times bought Isshin some time.

There was something definitely different with the hollow, with his mask partially removed and what appeared to be a zanpakuto of his own, but that did nothing to increase his power as a hollow. Isshin estimated a fourth-seater would have a decent match against this new breed of hollow if they used their shikai. But for captain-level like him, this Hollow was child's play. Isshin didn't even have to release his shikai to fell this horrible beast; he couldn't help but show off a bit in front of Kon.

The revenge upon the murderer of his wife was satisfying, yet still unfulfilling. Masaki's soul was still out there, trapped in hollow form.

Yet with Grand Fisher defeated, Isshin now had a couple of problems on his hands. Kon knew his secret, and would probably blurt it out to Ichigo. Isshin knew his son wasn't ready yet to learn of his heritage. Also, from what Urahara had informed him, they were on the brink of a war with the defected captains Aizen, Gin, and Tousen. Isshin may have to return to his shinigami form once again to defend his family, and Isshin wasn't too happy to return to the dangerous life of a shinigami.

At least Isshin could solve the first problem rather easily with a simple bribe of porn magazines. Kon was more than happy to oblige and promise to keep Isshin's secret from Ichigo, his sisters, and the rest of Ichigo's friends.


End file.
